- Jurisdiction
- Pennsylvania
Four years ago I was charged and convicted of Involuntary Deviate Sexual Intercourse for having an (otherwise consensual) sexual encounter with a teenage boy. I was sentenced to a term of 4 - 20 years in prison (as part of a deal to drop the mandatory minimum, two months before the minimum was found unconstitutional). I filed a PCRA arguing that the IDSI statute was unconstitutional because it unfairly punished homosexual activity (with a minor) more harshly than heterosexual activity (with a minor). Statutory Sexual Assault covers any sexual intercourse with a minor, and is a Felony 2. IDSI further stipulates that Oral or Anal intercourse (with a minor) is 'deviate' and a Felony 1. I attempted to argue that this was unfairly discriminatory due to the fact that IDSI is based on older laws prohibiting Sodomy which themselves are based on Judeo-Christian systems of morality. This rises to the point of discrimination because Homosexual offenders, offending against a minor of the same sex, cannot commit Statutory Sexual Assault without automatically also committing IDSI, based solely on the fact that whether it is a male/male or female/female there is no 'usual' sexual intercourse of penis entering a vagina. It would have to be either oral or anal intercourse because it is physically impossible for two males or two females to have standard penis+vagina intercourse. The fact that it is impossible for a homosexual offender to commit Statutory Sexual Assault without also committing IDSI, and that IDSI is a Felony 1 with much harsher punishments, makes this seem to me to be a clear discrimination and violation of equal protection under the constitution.
I was also attempting to make the argument that the state used a mandatory minimum sentence as leverage in my plea bargain, and the mandatory minimum was later found to be unconstitutional, which I feel should invalidate my plea agreement. Whether they knew it was unconstitutional or not, the state used as leverage an illegal statute to secure a plea agreement and the plea should be reconsidered without the use of this statute.
Unfortunately, the court appointed attorney I had assigned to my PCRA did an absolutely terrible job and made no attempts to actually expand on this argument or even include the case law that I researched to support my claims. So my PCRA was denied, superior court appeal denied, certiori denied.
My question is, based on the facts above, is there actually an argument to be made that IDSI vs SSA is unconstitutional, and what recourse do I have given than my PCRA is over a year old. I am trying to get back in court to get my 20 year maximum sentence dropped to something more reasonable. I've already served 4 years in prison so dropping the sentence to a 4-8 would be acceptable. The best case scenario would be dropping the IDSI entirely, which would leave me with the SSA as my lead charge, a 2.5-5 year sentence I am already mostly finished with.
Can anyone offer any advice on this?
I was also attempting to make the argument that the state used a mandatory minimum sentence as leverage in my plea bargain, and the mandatory minimum was later found to be unconstitutional, which I feel should invalidate my plea agreement. Whether they knew it was unconstitutional or not, the state used as leverage an illegal statute to secure a plea agreement and the plea should be reconsidered without the use of this statute.
Unfortunately, the court appointed attorney I had assigned to my PCRA did an absolutely terrible job and made no attempts to actually expand on this argument or even include the case law that I researched to support my claims. So my PCRA was denied, superior court appeal denied, certiori denied.
My question is, based on the facts above, is there actually an argument to be made that IDSI vs SSA is unconstitutional, and what recourse do I have given than my PCRA is over a year old. I am trying to get back in court to get my 20 year maximum sentence dropped to something more reasonable. I've already served 4 years in prison so dropping the sentence to a 4-8 would be acceptable. The best case scenario would be dropping the IDSI entirely, which would leave me with the SSA as my lead charge, a 2.5-5 year sentence I am already mostly finished with.
Can anyone offer any advice on this?
